Saturday, 16 August 2008

PAVEMENT – WATERY, DOMESTIC (MATADOR RECORDS)

PAVEMENT – WATERY,
DOMESTIC (MATADOR RECORDS)

Surprisingly
menacingly sounding, this is Pavement in superior mode.Maybe Malkmus was angry in its construction,
angry like me as I buy this CD on eBay for pounds only to discover one of those
unmoveable Cash Converters
stickers on the back of the case with permanent marker attempting to disguise
the fact that the disc was for sale (sold) for 10p.

It arrives and
expansive and shaking.“Texas Never
Whispers” initially resembles the sound of an alien invasion with broken
streams of distortion and noise until the song looms into a menacing strobe.Without missing a beat Malkmus reels off a shopping list of
pointy observations and relations until the band and music finally catches up
and repetition kicks in.There is a warm
hum to such nastiness.

The drift persists
with “Frontwards” and what initially appears a pleasant drive before resorting
back to a slow, bodeful approach.It has
a hook in defeat.

“Annual Report”.

“Lions (Linden)” opens with a plink then a plonk as a roaming
baseline steers a jagged bout of guitar noodling as Malkmus meanders with his
wording.Both bent and linear.Its Trumans
Water territory.

Closing on a happy
note the misleadingly titled “Shoot The Singer (1 Sick Verse)” is a mellow
outro, a calm jaunt that exudes a placid weariness.There are riddles in these scribbles.It closes on the mantra “don’t expect, don’t
expect”.

Further enhancing
their fractured demeanour the rooster “Jim” artwork is actually a defaced cover
of the self titled album by a lost band called Ambergris
and not Old MacDonald’s Farm as vaguely stated.